SAP takes stake in German software developer

The German software giant makes an investment in ProSyst under its SAP venture funds unit.

3 January 200211:43 am AEDT

SAP today said it has made an equity investment in German software developer ProSyst Software.

SAP, which competes against Oracle, PeopleSoft and Baan in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market, provides software that automates a company's financials, human resources and manufacturing needs. SAP made the investment in ProSyst under its SAP venture funds unit, the German software giant said in a statement.

Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.

Cologne, Germany-based ProSyst develops software products that are used as the framework for consumer networking services and e-commerce applications. Its software supports standards such as Java as well as the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), which is technology that allows a text version of a Web page to be displayed on mobile phone screens, SAP said.

This marks only the latest investment SAP has made in the last few months. In December, the company invested in security software developer iD2 Technologies. Stockholm, Sweden-based iD2, which targets the financial, telecommunications and postal services industries, develops and sells "smart card"-based public key infrastructure software that enables users to be securely identified across the Internet.

SAP has also taken equity stakes in warehouse management software company Catalyst and in Red Hat, a seller of Linux operating systems.

SAP said it will continue to make investments in companies and start-ups that develop promising technologies.